


(How to throw a) Party like a Nara

by megyal



Category: Naruto
Genre: Fluff, Humor, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-05-10
Updated: 2009-05-10
Packaged: 2017-10-11 10:20:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,102
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/111352
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/megyal/pseuds/megyal





	(How to throw a) Party like a Nara

"Wow," Chouji said in awe, his eyes wide. "This is… how did you…?"

"It took a lot of work," Shikamaru drawled, hands stuck deep in his pockets as he leaned against the nearest tree. The wide training ground had been turned into a festive area; tables and chairs were strewn arbitrarily across the grass, and people were milling back and forth, happily snacking on the plethora of food. Chouji's mouth began to water, and Shikamaru deigned to pull one hand out of his pocket and waved it lazily about. "Go ahead. Happy Birthday."

"My birthday was more than a week ago," Chouji pointed out, but he was heading for the nearest table with admirable speed. Shinobi and civilians alike greeted him delightedly, yelling out birthday wishes even as they dived out of his way. Any Hidden Leaf citizen knew that being in an Akimichi's way when there was food around was a really bad idea.

"It took more than a week to get everything ready." Sauntering after him, Shikamaru took the cigarette out of his mouth and considered it before tucking it behind his ear. He wouldn't light it up as yet. "I was thinking of baking a cake."

Chouji paused in the middle of loading up a very large platter, turning slowly to blink at his best friend. "You… You were going to _bake_ a _cake_."

"Well, yeah. But, you know, you have to go out and buy flour and sugar and eggs and then you have to go back to your kitchen and _mix them together_ before you stick it in a hot oven. Do you have any idea how troublesome that is?"

"Well," Chouji replied with his mouth full. "I've baked before. It's not that hard."

Shikamaru gave him a withering look out of the corner of his eye. "It's annoying. So I asked Ino if she could do it for me."

"And?"

"You know Ino," Shikamaru said with a long-suffering sigh. "She said that there was no way she was going to bake anything for me, she was going to make a vanilla one for you herself."

"Oh," Chouji eyed the large slice in his plate. "It's good."

"And then I talked to Iruka-sensei about me making a cake, and he baked one for you himself. The chocolate one over there? You should try it, it's good. _Then_, someone said they'd bring barbecue to your party, I didn't even have to say there would be a party. They just assumed. Which wasn't a bad thing, I didn't have to plan anything at all."

Chouji chewed carefully, staring at Shikamaru, who was gazing up at the sky, dark eyes tracking a fluffy white cloud.

"So you're telling me," Chouji finally said after he swallowed a bite of dango, "Basically, you just went around and said that you were making me a cake and everyone figured that you'd think it was too troublesome, and they decided to do something themselves. Is that it?"

Shikamaru shrugged. "It's not my fault that they'd make that assumption." He ducked his head, scratching the back of it contemplatively. "They don't know that I made something, anyway." He glanced around the impromptu party and then grabbed Chouji's scarf in his normal possessive manner. "Come on."

Chouji let himself be dragged towards the treeline, barely managing to place his empty plate on a table as they passed. Shikamaru finally stopped in an apparently secluded spot, and even though he still had that uninterested expression on his face, Chouji had been friends with him long enough to read his face: one, despite his bored look, Shikamaru had already determined that there was no-one else within a forty-foot radius, (he was sharp like that and Chouji would beat up anyone who said otherwise); and two, Shikamaru was really nervous.

Chouji let him play absently with the end of his scarf, not saying anything. Shikamaru finally sighed heavily, as if this whole thing had been wearying to the bone, and pulled a small, neatly wrapped package out of his pocket. "Here."

Chouji took it silently. It was long and narrow, and he smiled a little, knowing already what it was. He pulled at the string, and opened the paper, revealing an eating-utensil kit: the wooden container was wonderfully decorated, and when he pulled open the top, a long, slender knife and three ivory chopsticks gleamed. Chouji swallowed, hard.

"This is really nice," he managed to say, looking up at Shikamaru's face. It was more than _nice_, it was _amazing_, but Shikamaru didn't really appreciate enthusiastic exclamations of glee, which was why he always rolled his eyes when Gai-sensei or Lee-kun were around.

"Hm," was all the response Chouji got, and would ever get; without thinking, Chouji stepped forward, intending to kiss him on the cheek. _Why_ he wanted to do that, Chouji would never know; but he just felt like it and he was just following instinct. If asked, he simply would have said that he was not able to help himself.

At the last moment, Shikamaru turned his head, probably weirded out by what Chouji was up to, and their lips brushed together.

Chouji froze. Great, his best friend gave him a really nice birthday gift (a week late, but Chouji didn't care) and he just _had_ to go get all sappy and mess up everything. Shikamaru moved back slightly, looking in his face with an unreadable expression; then he bent forward again.

Probably Shikamaru had him in a Shadow Bind or something, because whatever Shikamaru did, Chouji did it too: pressing their lips tentatively together, their breaths choppy and so _loud_. When Shikamaru parted his lips, Chouji did so too, making a shocked little moan when their tongues touched. Shikamaru tasted a little like cigarette smoke, which was kind of gross, and a lot like chocolate, which was _delicious_.

Shikamaru's fingers brushed lightly along his shoulders and down his arms. Then they fell away and Shikamaru stepped back, even though they didn't stop kissing. Finally, Shikamaru managed to pull his mouth away from Chouji's, and blinked at him in an expression akin to shell-shock, before his features relaxed to their normal jaded state.

"Happy birthday," he said with a slight quirk to one corner of his mouth. Chouji stared at his reddened lips and grinned.

"Next year, can I get kissed on time?" he asked and wrinkled his nose when Shikamaru stared at him incredulously. "That would be nice, I guess."

Shikamaru shrugged and walked back to the party, tugging on Chouji's scarf as he passed. "Sure," he said, "that doesn't sound too troublesome at all."

_fin!_


End file.
